Adamawa PDP Congresses; The Ugly Side of the Coin

By

Zayyad I. Muhammad

Jimeta, Nigeria

zaymohd@yahoo.com

 

It is no longer news that the Adamawa chapter of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is factionalized between the Senator Jibril Aminu and the Atiku/ Boni supporters groups, and so far two parallel congresses were conducted for both the local government delegates and the state executive of the party, this made the party’s congresses in Adamawa fascinating. Adamawa occupies an exclusive position in PDP’s tome, Adamawa is so privilege to occupy this peerless position because of one man, vice president Atiku Abubakar’s indigene ship   of the state, and the so called Obasanjo/ Atiku feud, which many believe is taken to the vice president’s door step, which is the genesis of the current internal squabbling     in Adamawa PDP.

      

Internal party squabbling is nothing new in any political party, especially in a party like the PDP, which is composed of many diverse interest groups with array of ideologies.  Professor Jibril Aminu and his cohorts, many believe have the support of Abuja, were armed with the party’s registration cards, which give the group the liberty to openly exhibit some kind of hocus-pocus attitude and aver to themselves an imaginary triumph; this is so, because when one looks at:  the manner at which the last membership registration exercise of the party was conducted in the state; the local government delegates elections and the November 5th state congress; are full of indiscretions, though irregularity are peculiarities in politics of most third world countries.

 

Out of desperation to have relevance in Adamawa politics and secure temporally relief, professor Jibrin Aminu and Gen. Marwa conducted what one would call ‘ the lazy man’ congresses; had it been, those that appointed Prof. Aminu as the party’s link man in the state, know what had transferred at the local and ward congresses of the PDP, their hearts would bleed, it was a comedy! Where the services of the members of the opposition ANPP were employed; so droll, that the mighty PDP is imploring their political adversaries to come and take over their party; a funny example is the case of strategic Yola-North and Yola –South local government areas, where the entire executive of the ANPP from wards to the local government levels were automatically made the ward and local Government executive of the PDP; result ing in Usman Marafa, the former ANPP chairman in Yola-South becoming PDP chairman in Yola-South    and Usman Kaura of the Yola-north ANPP  assuming vice chairmanship in  Yola-North; while most of the local government delegates presented to the PDP by the Jibril Aminu faction, are ‘wall-to-wall’ ANPP adherents; well, it is politics, such things are not  mind boggling; but what is really the ugly part of the episode is, the perilous dimension being brought into the whole issue by Prof. Aminu; it is shocking   to note the  colossal  lopsidedness in  the politics of party membership registratio n, where an entire section of Adamawa people was wholly marginalized; though, it is not surprising when one reflect back on Prof. Aminu antecedent; it is full of controversies and egoism; especially when it comes to political matters, he is so incline to doing things the ways he deems will suit his chauvinistic mind; this started since his VC’s days at the university of maiduguri, where he wrote boldly on his desk  ‘ DO IT MY WAY’ but in politics, our ways should always be an all encompassing; this bring us to the composition of the two PDP factions in Adamawa; two scenarios are now happening in the politics of PDP in the state, the Jibril Aminu led group are with the opposition ANPP, while the other group are with the genuine PDP members, and another important edge the  other group have over Prof. Aminu’s faction, is, more than 95 % of the elected people are with them; out of the 21 local governm ent council chairmen in the state, only Caleb Tabawasa of Girei and Dr Mustapha of Song excluding their vice, are with the Jibrin Aminu’s faction ; while the remaining 19 local Government  chairmen are with other faction; out of the 23 state House of Assembly members only 4 are with Jibril Aminu i.e. Jerry kundisi of Gombi who Prof. Jibril expelled from the university when the Professor was the VC of Unimaid, others are Alfa Bellel of Maiha,  Salihu Audu of Mayo- Belwa, and  Ibrahim Abdulmumini of Song;  from the membership of  House of Reps, only Njidda Gella of Mubi-North, Mubi-South, Maiha federal constituency and Anthony Madwete of Numan, Lamurde, Demsa federal constituency are with the Professor’s bloc;  and all th e wards and local government chairmen of the party are not with the  faction.

      

One interesting thing about the just concluded state congress was, the Prof. Aminu’s faction conducted their congress in the professor’s personal office, while the other faction conducted their own in Stella Obasanjo Hall; the Aminu faction used the voice voting while the other group used actual physical voting, though voice voting is an accepted pattern of voting, but sometimes politicians employ such, when they are not certain of the loyalty of the voters when secret voting are to be done.

           

Politics in Adamawa is of complex dimension, it is beyond personality and sentiments; local grass root politics is the key to success; i.e. one has to have a good bond with the locals through their traditional leaders throughout the five political zones of the state; these zones comprise the northern zone, the central zone, Numan federation, Ganye chiefdom and the Mayo Belwa axis, but the Jibril Aminu faction is only left with the claim ‘ we are working for Obasanjo’ but one wonders if Obasanjo will condone: marginalizing a particular section of the society; working with the pe ople that the greater section of the society are not with, or accepting sentiments as a weapon in gaining political supremacy. The truth of the matter is Senator Jibril Aminu and his cohorts are busy perpetuating their personal agenda in the name of working for PDP; but gone are the politics of yesterdays; that we deliberately see things with an eye so as to avoid what our hearts doesn’t like; around are eras of seeing things with both eyes, so as to have the opportunity to see and appreciates the view, thought and wisdom of other people, because rainbow politics is about the people, not having one’s head in the clouds. 

 

Zayyad I. Muhammad writes  Jimeta,Nigeria

zaymohd@yahoo.com